Paragon scam suspect sent on judicial remand

Lahore - An accountability court on Thursday sent an accused in the Paragon Housing Society scam to jail on judicial remand after National Accountability Bureau (NAB) told the court that he was no longer required for further investigation.

Qaisar Amin Butt, a director of Paragon Housing Society, was in the custody of the bureau. However, officials produced him before the court on Thursday where NAB prosecutor Waris Ali Janjua told the judge that the suspect had recorded his confessional statement before a judicial magistrate required under Section 26 (E) of NAB ordinance and he was no longer required for investigation. He pleaded with the court to send the accused to jail on judicial remand.

The prosecutor further apprised that the chairman NAB had also given consent of sending him to jail on judicial remand. At this, the court sent Qaisar Butt to Jail on judicial remand till Dec 12.

The accused was arrested on November 14, on the charges of launching an illegal housing scheme known as Paragon City (Pvt) Ltd in connivance with Nadeem Zia and others during the year 2005 on the basis of forged and fabricated documents in alleged connivance of the TMA Aziz Bhatti Town, Lahore officials. The accused has been facing charges of involvement in the commission of offences of corruption and corrupt practices in alleged connivance with co-accused Nadeem Zia and others in Paragon City (Pvt) Limited.

In Pakistan-Arab housing scam, an accountability court handed over an accused to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on 14-day physical remand. Earlier, the NAB officials produced Pak-Arab housing society’s deputy administrator retired Maj Ghulam Murtaza before Accountability Court Judge Syed Najamul Hassan and submitted that Murtaza was a co-accused in defrauding people and committing Rs.18 billion worth of corruption.

They submitted that Murtaza had fled abroad after the bureau launched an investigation into the scam. “He has been arrested on his return,” they added. The officials requested the court for physical remand of the accused for investigation purpose.

At this, the court handed over the accused to NAB till Dec 20 on physical remand, with a direction to produce him again on expiry of the remand term. NAB had already arrested Ammar Gulzar,owner of the Pak-Arab housing society, in connection with the scam. The society’s administration sold 5,200 kanals of land to citizens rather than 1,500-kanal of the allocated land. The accused also sold out 8,500 files of plots without obtaining an NOC from the Lahore Development Authority. Not only this, the administration sold out one plot multiple times.